There are few things more glorious than a farmers market in spring, with its baskets of purple-tipped asparagus, plump sugar snap peas and crisp jewel-toned radishes. It's enough to woo gourmets of any dietary persuasion, whether they're omnivores, vegetarians or -- increasingly -- the chefs and gourmet diners who think the only distinction that makes any actual sense is delicious-arian.

"Why can't you just love food?" says Berkeley food writer Mollie Katzen, whose "Moosewood Cookbook" (and the New York restaurant that inspired it) helped launch the vegetarian movement into the mainstream in 1977. "You can eat beautifully without meat, but I've never been a strict vegetarian. There are degrees of everything."

A spring bouquet of gorgeous vegetables created by Bed of Roses in San Francisco photographed on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 in Walnut Creek, Calif. Some of the fresh items include in the bouquet were asparagus, kale, fennel, rhubarb, eggplant, fiddleheads and artichokes. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group)

It's odd now to contemplate the enormous divide -- a dietary Wall of Jericho -- that existed not long ago between vegetarians and meat eaters. Katzen has always been bothered by the sense of segregation, of dinner-plate judgment and the sense, she says, of "'are you or aren't you?' Who cares what I eat?"

But there has been a dramatic shift in the dining landscape over the last several years. Sure, there are still plenty of steak-centric places where vegetarians end up with mashed potatoes for dinner. But these days it is completely normal to find Brussels sprout starters at upscale bistros everywhere, from Walnut Creek's Corners Tavern and San Mateo's Vault 164 to San Diego's glitzy new Stone Brewing World Bistro.

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Kale chips have become ubiquitous. ("I take credit for them, thank you," Katzen says. "1997. People thought I was insane.")

The Meatless Monday movement has gathered so much steam, it doesn't even need parenthetical explanation anymore. And farmers markets have become not just beloved bastions of seasonal produce, but chic hangouts for hipsters and cooing couples, who browse the English peas and garlic scapes, then go home to cook them.

"I think the message that it's good to eat a lot of plant food -- Michael Pollan has made that cool and it's gained critical mass," Katzen says. "Produce is better than ever -- dizzyingly delicious, irresistible." And how chefs handle those Brussels sprouts, green beans and other vegetables, she adds, has become a point of pride for them.

Now spring has brought that irresistible fare to the fore, with asparagus that just begs to be turned into puff pastry tarts or lightly layered, vernal riffs on the lasagna theme. There's no need for omnivores to give up salmon or steak, but moving in a vegetable-centric direction is not only good for you, it's delicious.

Put the emphasis on that end of the equation, says Sarah Copeland, a New York-based Food Network chef and cookbook author, and you may discover what she did: "I found everything around the meat to be the most exciting parts on the plate." Copeland still eats some meat -- the recipes in her new book, "Feast" (Chronicle Books, $35, 288 pages), include the occasional salmon or crustacean sighting -- but her main focus lies in the fresh produce and vibrant flavors of, say, a watermelon radish salad with salty, crumbly aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, or bowls of creamy polenta topped with grilled tomatoes and zucchini.